Philippine Showbiz Today 21
February 8 - 21 , 2017
A documentary about the Philippines ’ busiest maternity hospital bagged a prize at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday .
Motherland , a verite portrait of the Dr . Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila , took the Special Jury Award for Editing . The film is the latest work of Filipino-American filmmaker Ramona S . Diaz , best known for the awardwinning documentaries Imelda and Don ’ t Stop Believin ’: Everyman ’ s Journey .
I Don ’ t Feel at Home in This World Anymore , a movie long on ambition and longer in title , came away with the top award , the Grand Jury Prize .
Starring Elijah Wood , it was announced at its world premiere in the Utah mountains last week as the only festival entrant with a grammatical sentence as its title .
Green Room actor Macon Blair ’ s directorial debut is a bloody crime comedy with an escalating body count in the best traditions of Quentin Tarantino , Guy Ritchie , the Coen brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson .
The Netflix financed movie co-stars Melanie Lynskey (“ Heavenly Creatures ”) as a nursing assistant worn down by people ’ s unkindness who eventually snaps when her house is burglarized .
It won the grand jury prize in Sundance ’ s “ US dramatic competition ” section .
Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini ’ s Dina , described by critics as a “ non-fiction rom-com ” won best US documentary .
The film follows an eccentric
Bela Padilla recently revealed that she and long-time beau Neil Arce have already parted ways , saying , “ Although I don ’ t want to go into details anymore as to the exact date and the reasons why we arrived at such decision as a way of showing respect to him . What matters is we broke up as friends .”
“ Well , as the cliché goes , life has to go on . There ’ s no use crying over spilled milk , right ? It helped that Neil and I maintained our friendship . We weren ’ t bitter towards each other because of the split . In fact , I ’ m currently doing a project with him as producer . This is Dan Villegas ’ Love at First Sight where I share the frame with Jericho Rosales . We ’ re okay during the shooting . What ’ s good with us is that we are able to separate the professional
Philippine Showbiz Today 21
PH ’ s busiest maternity hospital wins Sundance prize for Motherland
Filipino mothers nurse their newborn babies in Ramona S . Diaz ’ s ‘ Motherland ’ suburban woman and a Walmart door-greeter as they navigate their evolving relationship in an unconventional love story .
Many critics have pointed out that this year ’ s festival was more overtly political than in previous years .
Fittingly , Sundance ’ s awards show opened with a sideways dig at President Donald Trump ’ s order suspending the arrival of refugees and tough new controls on travelers from Iran , Iraq , Libya , Somalia , Sudan , Syria and Yemen .
Sundance Institute head Keri Putnam told the audience she wanted to “ acknowledge the artists from Muslim majority countries who joined us at the festival this year .”
The US dramatic audience award — the second prize to the grand jury award — went to Matt Ruskin ’ s “ Crown Heights ,” the
story of a man fighting to clear his name after being wrongly convicted of a crime .
The US documentary directing prize went to Peter Nicks for The Force — a portrait of the Oakland police department — while the US documentary audience award went to Chasing Coral , which sounds the alarm on the decline of coral reefs .
Tarik Saleh ’ s Swedish thriller The Nile Hilton Incident came away with the grand jury prize for world drama while Feras Fayyad ’ s Last Men in Aleppo , about the Syrian conflict , won the world cinema documentary competition .
The Sundance Film Festival founded by actor Robert Redford is considered a showcase for independent and documentary films and festival winners often go on to receive critical acclaim and Hollywood awards season glory .
Last year , the crop of movies shown at the festival yielded Manchester by the Sea , which is up for six Oscars on February 26 , including best picture and best actor for its star Casey Affleck .
“ This has been one of the wildest , wackiest and most rewarding festivals in recent memory ,” said Sundance director John Cooper .
“ From a new government to the independently organized Women ’ s March on Main , to power outages , a cyberattack and snow at record levels , the work of our artists rose above it all and challenged and changed us these last 10 days .” ●
- Interaksyon
Bela Padilla affirms breakup with Neil Arce from the personal side . When it comes to the artistic or creative aspect , I still value his opinion than anybody else ’ s because our minds jive perfectly .”
“ I ’ ve known him for four years ,” explains Bela . “ As I ’ ve mentioned earlier , when it comes to work , we ’ re perfect partners .”
Many are curious how she handles her emotional state as of now .
“ To be honest , things haven ’ t sunk in yet . For one , I ’ m busy with work . I tape for my new soap My Dear Heart thrice a week and the remaining days , I allot for shootings . On Sundays , I attend this script-writing course under Mr . Ricky Lee . So , I really don ’ t have the time to think things over . Perhaps , not right now .”
Is reconciliation possible , if ever ?
She explains , “ Well , as of now , I ’ d rather not talk about it . As I ’ ve said , despite our breakup , there ’ s no bad blood between us . Personally , I want to keep our friendship no matter what . I will let the future decide on that .
“ I ’ m more focusing on our professional relationship . We still have a lot of concepts to develop . For sure , I ’ ll be working with him in various projects in the coming days . As in I ’ ll be working with him the whole year .” ●
- J . P . Gonzales , MS